Project Description: Soils are the reactive
interface between rock and water that control the release of major cations
and trace metals through weathering. The extent to which trace metals associated
with bedrock are leached into solution is controlled largely by soil chemistry
(e.g., sorption and desorption to mineral surfaces, hydrolysis) and soil microbiology
(e.g., oxidation to soluble species; reduction, methylation). Thus, it is vital
to understand the role of soil biogeochemical cycles in the mobilization and/or
sequestration of trace metals. This study has two goals:

Characterize the interaction between major nutrient (carbon and nitrogen)
cycles and the biogeochemistry of arsenic and mercury in the soil environment
using solid and solution-phase soil chemistry, organic biomarkers and isotope
geochemistry of soil and plants.<

This work is being conducted in the California Coast Range at the UC Davis
McLaughlin Reserve, in part because of the wealth of background information
on soils, geology and plant ecology. The reserve includes historic mines that
supplied mercury used during the Mother Lode gold mining period along the Sierra
Nevada foothills.